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Fostering Social Responsibility & Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions in India 17

new courses which teach about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will provide local
understanding about some of these goals to students, in addition to learning about Agenda
2030.7

An indicative list of such new courses, compiled from various HEIs, is presented below:

a) Understanding panchayats and constitutional mandate of local governance

b) Panchayat administration, Gram Sabha, Mahila Sabha, GPDP, local planning of basic
services
c) Micro-finance, SHGs, system of savings and credit for local business, linkages to banks,
financial inclusion

d) Rural – entrepreneurship, opportunities for small business in local communities, access
to financial and technical inputs to new entrepreneurs

e) Renewable energy, access to household and community level solar and bio-mass systems
for sustainable energy use

f) Participatory Monitoring & evaluation of socio-economic development programmes,
cost-benefit analysis of project proposals

g) Participatory decentralised planning, GPDP, micro-level data analysis for new
investments
h) Hygiene and sanitation, improving health and personal behaviours, locally manageable
decentralised systems

i) Water conservation, traditional practices of storage and harvesting, new systems of
distribution and maintenance

j) Women’s empowerment, gender inequality at home, community and public spaces,
safety of girls and women, access to skills, credit and work opportunities

k) Child security, safety and good parenting, nutrition and health, learning and training
for child care
l) Rural Marketing, market research, designing opportunities for rural artisans and crafts,
new products based on demand assessment

m) Community Based Research in Rural Settings, undertaking research that values local
knowledge, systematises local practices and tools for replication & scale-up

n) Peri-urban development of informal settlements, mapping and enumeration, design of
local solutions

2.4 Undertaking research in partnership with local community
If a mutually beneficial partnership with local communities and institutions—business,
government, civil society--- is built, community university research partnerships may
8
become supportive of new knowledge and its use. Many students and faculty undertake

7 http://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/resource/BHALL_Community_Based_Research_ENG_Dec13.pdf
8 https://www.pria.org/uploaded_files/article_category/1446926999_CURP%20Book.pdf